


a brose by any other name

by EliteDelieght, punkrockbadger



Series: rewrite potter [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Gen, baby naming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 07:30:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4951816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliteDelieght/pseuds/EliteDelieght, https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkrockbadger/pseuds/punkrockbadger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily learns how to say her childrens' names. Alternatively, James can't stop getting in trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a brose by any other name

“So we’ve basically disagreed on every name we’ve come up with.” James said, face centimeters from the swell of Lily’s belly. “So you’re gonna have to pull your weight here. Your mother and I don’t appreciate the fact that you’re trying to get off easy on this one. I’m really hoping this isn’t a habit.”

Lily ran her hands over the curve of her stomach, raising her eyebrows at her husband. “He gets it from you, babe.” She hummed. “Already causing trouble before he’s even been born. You Potter boys will be the death of me.”

“That’s not allowed either, by the way.” James said. “No killing your mother. That’s my job, and only metaphorically. You’re a baby. You don’t get what metaphors are. No killing anyone. Right.”

“Training him not to be a mass murderer already. You are father material.” Lily reached out to run her hand through James’ hair. “Well, tiny not-murderer. How do you like the name… Greg? Uh. Clark?”

“No son of mine is being named Greg. I’ll leave you. Swear on my life.” James pulled a face. “We’ve got a history of horrible white people names in my family, so I shouldn’t be talking.”

“I think James is a charming name.” Lily assured him. “A charming name for a big idiot.”

“Thanks.” James said dryly. “Good to know you’re set on presenting a unified front.”

“Love you.” She cooed teasingly.

“Love you too.” He pulled a face. “I can’t think of much. Uh, I had a grandfather who went by Henry. Harry, actually. That good?”

“Harry.” Lily tested the name out, her expression thoughtful. “My grandpa was named Reginald, so I guess Harry is an improvement.” She seemed honestly pleased, despite her teasing remark.

“Hari.” James said, looking thoughtful. “Yeah, that’d be alright.”

“Hari.” Lily repeated back to him. “Hari and Lily and James.”

“Yup. Sounds like it’d work.” James nodded. “What about you, little guy? D’you like it?”

“Well, not that he wasn’t before, but he’s still kicking.” Lily laughed, pressing her hands to her belly once more. “So I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

“Alright. So that’s solved.” James heaved a sigh of relief. “Harry Potter. Our little Hari.”

“Hari Potter.” Lily said again, her expression soft. For a moment, she could forget about the war, and about being in hiding. For a moment they could be a normal couple, waiting for their son to come into the world.

* * *

“Alright, champ. Any ideas?” Lily bounced Harry on her knee, her swelling stomach still small enough that her son could fit on her lap. “We’ve gotta name your little sister.”

“Dunno.” Harry shrugged, throwing his hands up in the air. “Do you have an idea, Amma?”

“Not really.” Lily smiled, petting Harry’s hair down. “Appa named you, too. Maybe he’s got an idea?”

“Appa knows what the baby’s name is!” Harry brightened up, suddenly remembering that he did, in fact, know what the baby’s name was. “He told me! We’ve been praying for the baby before bedtime!”

“Is that true?” Lily gasped dramatically, covering her mouth with one hand. “Did Appa forget to tell Amma about the baby’s name?”

“Uh oh.” Harry said solemnly, shaking his head, with all the gravity a nearly four year old could possess. “Appa’s in trouble.”

“You wanna go find Appa and tell him he’s grounded?” Lily asked, reaching down to boop Harry’s nose.

“Yeah!” Harry cheered, grabbing Lily’s hand. “Let’s do it! We can yell at him together!”

Lily gently lifted him up, setting him on the ground before pulling herself to her feet. She groaned softly, shaking her head. “When you get bigger, I’m just gonna stay in bed all day.” She mumbled to the curve of her stomach.

“I could tell you the baby’s name, but I wanna ground Appa still, though.” Harry nodded. “Gotta be a big boy and help you out about the baby. Appa said.”

“Appa’s pretty smart. Almost as smart as my little man, right, Hari?” Lily smiled down at him as they moved into the kitchen. “Isn’t Hari smart, James?”

“So smart.” James repeated, checking one of the many pots on the stove before turning to face his wife and son. “What’s he got me in trouble for this time?”

“Why would you say that?” Harry asked, running up to his father. James lifted Harry up easily, and Harry wrapped his arms around his father’s neck, burying his face in his shoulder. “I didn’t say anything to Amma!”

“Really?” James asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I did, but she made me!” Harry said, pouting up at his father. “Appa, please?”

“Lily, what’d he tell you?” James looked to his wife, hoping for a proper answer from her.

“Well, it sounds to me like you’ve got a name for the baby that you didn’t tell me about.” Lily hummed. “And we both know Hari can’t keep a secret.”

“Oh, he can.” James rolled his eyes. “Only when it’s his secrets, though. Or Uncle Sirius’.”

“I’ve got loads of those.” Harry piped up, nodding seriously. “Can’t tell Uncle Remus. Shh.”

“Can’t believe I hadn’t told you the name I’d found, though.” James frowned. “Figured I had, but I might’ve done that thing where I’m convinced I told you, but I really haven’t.”

“Her name’s Sharada!” Harry said excitedly. “Appa and me call her Charu for short, though.”

“Appa and I, kanna.” James corrected, ruffling his son’s hair.

“Sharada, huh?” Lily said, frowning. “Say that one more time, please.”

“Sharada. Goes like Shah-ruh-dhaa, if that makes any sense.” James looked to Harry, who nodded. “He’s biased, so I can’t trust him on that front.”

“Sharada.” She repeated. “That’s pretty. What does it mean?”

“It’s the name of the goddess of wisdom and knowledge and stuff.” James said. “Figured that’d be a good thing. Problem is, I dunno what we’d call her. In public and all.”

“Well…. What about… Sylvia? Or Sarah? Those are S names.”

“Sarah sounds alright. Close enough that she won’t mix it up.” James nodded. “Sarah. That sounds good.”

“I asked Bhagavan to make sure she doesn’t fight me.” Harry spoke up. “He didn’t say anything.”

“You know, if he doesn’t say anything, that usually means you’re not gonna get what you want. Sorry, kanna.” James ruffled Harry’s hair again, laughing at the expression of pure outrage on his son’s face. “Shouldn’t have ruined that for you, I’m taking it.”

“Charu’s the meanest.” Harry huffed, crossing his arms. “I’m never ever gonna play with her ever, when she comes out.”

“I’m giving him five minutes, after she’s born.” James said.

“Not even that much. He’s going to be whining to hold her the second he sees her.” Lily laughed. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart? You’re gonna be a great big brother.”

“The best in the whole world, even. Better than Ron.” Harry nodded.

“Ron’s a good standard on that.” James smiled. “He could’ve chosen Sirius. That’d be a whole other problem.”

“I wanna be like Uncle Sirius!” Harry piped up excitedly, slapping at his father’ shoulders. “I wanna be like Uncle Sirius!”

“I did it again.” James pulled a face.

“Are you really surprised?” Lily snorted.

“Not really.” James sighed. “Hopefully this one doesn’t like Sirius as much.”

* * *

“Okay.” Lily let out a deep, measured breath. “Okay.” She repeated. “Twins. We’re having… twins. That’s fine, right? We can handle twins.”

“We handled these two.” James said, motioning to Harry and Sarah. Sarah was sitting quietly in her brother’s lap while he chattered to her about something or the other. “We can handle two more.”

“Sarah’s not even a year old yet.” Lily threaded a hand into her hair. “We’re going to have to deal with three babies, babe. Plus Harry. And Sirius.”

“That’s five children.” James said, shaking his head. His fingers were tugging at the hem of his navy blue Quidditch jersey, the golden bulrushes visible for once instead of being covered in mud from practice. “We’re dead.”

“That’s three more than we bargained for.” Lily groaned. “I mean obviously we’re gonna adore them but… Jeez.”

“We’ll manage. I mean, we always do.” James shrugged. “Alright, I’m out of names. I mean, I’ve got one for a boy, but that’s it.”

“Okay. Boy name works. I’ve got a couple girl names I’ve been thinking about.” Lily sat up, glancing at Harry and Sarah to make sure no one was crying or on fire before looking to James. “I’m all ears.”

“Adithya, for a boy. Adi for short. Means sun.” James scratched his head. “Good? Yes?”

“Sun. Yeah.” Lily nodded slowly. “Not like we get enough of it here in England, right?”

“Plus, December babies. Best joke ever.” James grinned.

“Appa can’t tell jokes.” Harry spoke up, as Sarah stared at him. “You’ve gotta learn that fast.”

“He’s teaching her the truth already.” Lily sighed. “Okay… Adithya and… Anne. They can match. Anne and Andrew.”

“Closest thing to Anne that comes to mind is Anjali. Means blessing or offering. Good?” James looked to Lily. “Adi and Anju. All matching and stuff.”

“Adi and Anju.” Lily sighed, looking over to Harry. “Hari, Charu. What do you think about those names?”

“Good!” Harry yelled, causing Sarah, whose ear his face was right next to, to burst into tears. “Oops. Charu, it’s okay! Anna was yelling, that’s all.” He patted her head, which only seemed to make her cry more, and Sarah reached out toward Lily, cries increasing in volume.

“Oh, sweetheart, no.” Lily got to her feet, gently scooping Sarah into her arms and bouncing her up and down. “Hari didn’t mean it, Charu. Amma’s here.” Sarah calmed down as soon as she was safely in Lily’s arms, laying her head against her mother’s shoulder.

“Don’t scream near babies, Hari.” James said, as Harry ran over to him. “There’ll be two more soon, so you’ll have to be extra, extra careful. Sound good?”

“Uh huh.” Harry clung to James’ legs, as he often did when upset about something, and James ruffled his hair. “Extra careful.”

“Adi and Anju.” James said aloud, as if testing the names again, before nodding. “They’ll fit right in. Crying seems to be our family specialty, at this point.”

* * *

“Madhava…” James groaned, slapping a hand over his eyes. “Five kids. Are you kidding?”

Lily, who was still attempting to recover from the process of giving birth to triplets, let out a noncommittal groan. Her hair was held back in a stringy ponytail, and her arms were tucked securely around the youngest of her children. “Six.” She murmured. “Can’t forget Sirius.”

“Six. Damn.” James sighed. “Well, at least three of them are busy at the moment. God bless Remus.”

“He’s a godsend.” She agreed, green eyes drifting open to look at the tiny baby girl in James’ arms. “We only have two names.”

“He’s not crying anymore.” James noted, frowning. “The other one. When did he stop?”

Lily blinked, glancing down at the bundle of blankets in her arms. A tiny fist raised up, waving around as the baby let out a noise that might have been a yawn. “When you were complaining about having five kids, I guess.”

“Madhava. Madhav.” James looked to the baby. “Sure. That looks right. Matthew, I guess.”

“Madhav. Madhav, Anju, Adi.” Lily smiled down at the babies, leaning her head against the pillows propping her up. “Perfect little Potters.”

“Yeah. Our kids.” James said, smiling fondly as well. “This is it, by the way. Never again. Not that you were suggesting it, I just wanted to be clear on that front. Make sure we’re both on the same page.”

“Are you kidding? I was planning on shoving you out a window if you even thought about it.” Lily grimaced.

“Yeah. No. Next Potters that happen are all on these kids. Not me. Never again.” James shook his head rapidly. “Nope.”

“Can we wait a few years before we think about grandkids?” Lily groaned.

“At least forty.” James nodded. “Not sooner than that. Closing the kids door now.”

“The end.” Lily agreed.


End file.
